BEACHES DATABASE OF PARANÁ STATE

Abstract

The understanding of the coastal dynamics is generally a challenge for researchers, engineers and decisionmakers.This fact applies to the diversity of environmental variables involved, as well as the variability of temporalscales of the processes that drive the dynamics on the coast. This diversity of atmospheric and oceanic forces,processes and temporal scales result often in a variety of ways of how to approach and study the matter.The variability of temporal scales and its diversity of environmental parameters cause the temporal studiesdiscontinuity and the fragmentation of knowledge. These facts can limit full comprehension of the coastal processacting on the beaches. This work is recovered, stored and integrated into a geographical information system withpast and new survey data on the Paraná beaches. The aim is to reduce the fragmentation and disconnectionbetween the old and new coastlines, beach profiles, sediments and risk surveys.The considered database conceptual model contains two groups of input parameters. The group thatcongregates the beaches morphodynamic characteristics is formed by the parameters that compose the followingsets: energy, geometry and sedimentology. The other group, composed by land use and hazards sets, addsrelative information about the hazards associated with beaches (Figure 1).The development of an automatic method of query and visualization of data about beaches of the stateof Paraná based on a geographic information system aims to contribute to the integration of works carriedout on beaches as well as assisting in the planning and execution of new works that, perhaps, happen to be developed. Another function is to integrate the knowledge about beaches so that professionals of other areas, decisionmakersand the community as a whole make use of this information in simplified and objective ways. Therefore,ways of how to offer this data to the community through the Internet have also been studied.